Today’s Bahrain Grand Prix saw the latest development in the Lewis Hamilton-Fernando Alonso rivalry. Hamilton hit the back of Alonso’s Renault causing the McLaren driver to lose his front wing.

Alonso denied he was responsible, saying: “The McLaren was just a lot faster than my car and he crashed into me.” Hamilton has not yet commented on the incident – but Alonso’s defensive driving has been criticised for causing accidents in the past.

David Coulthard blamed Alonso for causing this crash in the 2003 European Grand Prix:

Coulthard claimed Alonso had deliberately braked early for the corner to force him to take avoiding action and go off. Did Alonso do something similar today – perhaps easing off the throttle to cause Hamilton to make a mistake? Or did Hamilton just misjudge how much quicker he was?

Whatever happened it’s likely to inflame the unpopularity of Hamilton in Spain with the Spanish Grand Prix the next stop on the calendar.